Teachings of the Saints

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Megwalters2288

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Does the Catholic Church perceive the teachings of the Saints: such as St. Irenaeus, St. Augustine, St. Francis, etc; to be considered divinely inspired? How does one obtain the title of Sainthood in the Church?
 
Not divinely inspired. Not even necessarily 100% correct.
 
I was able to get a hold of a Priest at a local Church and I was trying to discuss some of my questions with him about the faith. I asked about Mary and the Catholic beliefs of her. I asked him about how this is believed because biblically we have no evidence of Mary’s genealogy to verify her sinless birth from her Mother. He began to mention about the names of Mary’s parents but dismissed it before going further. Now, is this something that comes from a verified document that is not within biblical text or from a divine inspiration of a Saint?
 
Megwalters2288 said:
… He began to mention about the names of Mary’s parents but dismissed it before going further. Now, is this something that comes from a verified document that is not within biblical text or from a divine inspiration of a Saint?
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Quote from this article - Sts. Joachim and Anne - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online
Saints Joachim (sometimes spelled “Joaquin,” pronounced “wal-keem”) and Anne, are the parents of the Virgin Mary. There are no mentions of them in the Bible or Gospels, what we know comes from Catholic legend and the Gospel of James, which is an unsanctioned, apocryphal writing form the second century AD. …
 
We believe in Scripture and Tradition, both of which are divinely inspired. As the Scriptures themselves say 2 Thess 2:15 Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.

Both are handed on in all their integrity in the Church, by virtue of Jesus’ promises to send the Holy Spirit to lead us in all truth. The letter from the Pope linked above is an example of the successor of Peter confirming this truth, not inventing it. The letter itself lays out some of the evidence for this belief from the beginning.

The early saints bear witness to Tradition and its consistency over time and are also generally good sources of Christian wisdom. But they provide no new revelation. They are not inspired like the writers of Scripture or the Apostles.
 
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Is there a collection of the early church fathers writings that I could purchase to study? Is the Catechism best for this?
 
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A catechism is a good source for seeing what the Church teaches on a particular subject. The Catechism of the Catholic Church published in recent times is about as exhaustive as you’ll find, and it has many footnotes to scripture verses, the fathers, and other sources.

It is online here if you want to see if it is what you’re looking for:
https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

The actual writings of the Fathers will be voluminous. I’m not sure what the best hard copy to buy would be, but here are a couple good sites with tons of writings online:

https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/

https://www.ccel.org/fathers2

I hope that helps a little!
 
I was just listening to Catholic Answers on YouTube and they were talking about this book. This book and Trent Horns Why We Are Catholic are the next two I am hoping to read.
 
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